Laney Davis
Hensley
Honors English 11/Fourth Period
27 January 2017
A Summary of ?You?re Ugly, Too? by Lorrie Moore
?You?re Ugly, Too? by Lorrie Moore is a short story that focuses more on the characters than it does a cohesive plot. Although written in third person, the reader follows the protagonist named Zoe Hendricks. She is introduced as a history teacher in a small liberal-arts college called Hilldale-Versaille, located in Paris, Illinois. Through dialogue and actions, the reader slowly learns more about her life and personality.
Zoe is a very educated woman living in Illinois by herself. She quickly comes off as cynical about most things, specifically love and romantic relationships. Most things that she says are sarcastic, and her
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Evan asks for advice about her boyfriend Charlie, wondering if she should marry him or not. Zoe resoundly disagrees, advising her to wait because she is too young. In reality, she was mostly projecting her own reservations and cynicism of love onto her sister. In a flashback sequence, the author describes the three past relationships that Zoe has had, all ending in disappointment. With all three, Zoe was mostly put off by the fact that she wasn?t a good enough woman for the men. She describes something called a Heidi Archetype, symbolic of a perfectly shaped woman who dresses nicely and waits on men all of the time. Zoe refuses to be someone like Heidi, and is therefore convinced that relationships with men won?t work …show more content…
He brings up the topic of love, and talks about his recent divorce. Zoe shares her sympathies, but he claims that love is like a tree. It has bumps and bruises, but it is still growing. Zoe shares a love story of her own, about a woman who plays the violin in Europe. When she moves back to America, she stops playing and takes up with a local boy. He tells her that she is not famous and the no one has ever heard of her, then she goes home and puts a bullet through her head. This story perturbs Earl, and he quickly gets off the subject of love. He tells Zoe that she should wear more blue and white to bring out her coloring, which she responds negatively to. Earl says that he should not have even tried to be with a career woman, as they are all too stricken. He prefers women with part-time jobs. Still on the balcony, he talks more and more about the limited population of good women, and that there are none left for men to be with. All of his actions thus far--his outrageous costume, his opinions about women with careers--angers Zoe and reflects her earlier experiences with not being good enough for men. She steps behind Earl, who is leaning over the railing, and gives him a shove. His arms fall over, but he catches himself. After this he is quite shaken, and yells at her in confusion. Zoe repeats that she was just kidding several times, and the story closes with her smiling at him and wondering
When Elena knocked on Eugene’s green door, she had a lot of hope to study with Eugene and getting to know him better. But when Eugene’s mom answered the door, she told Elena to leave and that she was not welcome in Eugene’s home. “‘What’s wrong? Didn’t you hear what I said?’ She seemed very angry, and I finally snapped out of my trance. I tu...
She constantly thinks about being a “good person,” she would even like to have been a saint, “because that included everything you could know” (243) but she thinks that she has too many faults such as being a liar, ...
Nina is one of the main characters in this movie and Josie is her best friend. A scene where their friendship is characterized is one where Josie and Nina are riding in a cab. Josie gets upset with Nina (briefly) when she finds out that Nina has had sex with Darius (the other main character) on the first night they went out. The haste in which they have had sex does not bother her as much as the fact that Nina does not tell her. This example is a direct correlation to one of the themes of women?s friendship that intimacy is cultivated through dialogue. This suggest that women build closeness in their friendships dialogue and by Nina not telling, it breaks the code of intimacy in a way. The establishment of a new relationship something like this that is an important part of Nina?s life, and excluding Josie from that is what is troubling her. Even though I do not believe that to be true in this example, that can be argued as a reason Nina doesn?t share.
It is clear that in their marriage, her husband makes her decisions on her behalf and she is expected to simply follow blindly. Their relationship parallels the roles that men and women play in marriage when the story was written. The narrator’s feelings of powerlessness and submissive attitudes toward her husband are revealing of the negative effects of gender roles. John’s decision to treat the narrator with rest cure leads to the narrator experiencing an intense feeling of isolation, and this isolation caused her mental decline. Her descent into madness is at its peak when she grows tears the wallpaper and is convinced that “[she’s] got out at last, in spite of [John] and Jennie… and [they] can’t put her back!”
The musical has several instances of sexism, one of them being Frank’s song, “The Girl that I Marry”, with the lyrics “The girl that I marry will have to be/ As soft and as pink as a nursery/ The girl I call my own/ Will wear satin and laces and smell of cologne/ Her nails will be polished/ And in her hair she’ll wear a gardenia” where he describes the “perfect girl” that he wants to marry (Sidney, "Annie Get Your Gun"). This song would be considered sexist today because of the high standards he puts his perfect woman to, while nowadays, feminists push women to be themselves without trying to live up to somebody else’s standards especially for a man. Furthermore, Frank would always become upset whenever Annie would beat or perform better than him. For example, when Annie and Frank reunite after being apart for each of their own show, they are declaring their love for each other but the moment is lost when Frank tries to offer his three medals as a gift but he sees that Annie already has a chestful of medals. The rivalry comes back and his pride takes over and Frank tries to take his gift back by saying, “No, these are too plain for you. They just got writing on the back, ‘To Frank Butler, The Champion Sharpshooter of the World’,” (Sidney, "Annie Get Your Gun"). By saying
The sisters use Marie-Adele's death as a time to learn that they “gotta make the most of it while “they’re” here[,] - giv[e] it one good try” (1161) and remember how special their sisterly bond is. The sisters lean on each other for support during their time of grief. Emily takes Zhaboonigan under her wing by enlisting her to help with the store, Emily supports Annie by going to her shows where she “sing[s] back-up for Fritz” (1162), and Veronique is “cooking for Eugene and the children” (1163). Emily and Zhaboonigan formed a special bond during and after their trip. Zhaboonigan begins to feel a strong affection for Emily and Emily confides in Zhaboonigan.
is defined as attractive-to-men...”(119). This ties in to a story that Allison tells in her
...mark instead of embracing the birth-mark that was given to her. Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals that desire for perfection is a dreadful objective. The Wilfred Owen reveals to his audience that if a person shows the reality, then let the person decide for how he or she wants to deal with things accordingly. The last lesson is never to live a life wanting to please others. Both the soldier and Georgiana wanted to please their lovers. Unfortunately, they end up hurting themselves. Georgiana’s death reveals that a person should never try putting his life in jeopardy. Georgiana and the soldier should not let people coerce them into doing a something they love. It is hard to depict what Aylmer sadness is after his wife dies. Aylmer possibly realizes that he took his wife for granted. The soldier realizes that trying to please another person ends up making life worse.
When Elisa’s husband Henry comes over and compliments her garden and ability to grow things, Elisa is smug with him and very proud of her skill with the flowers. Her "green thumb" makes her an equal in her own eyes. When Elisa’s husband asks her if she would like to go to dinner, her feminine side comes out. She is excited to go eat at a restaurant and states that she would much rather go to the movies than go see the fights, she "wouldn’t like the fight’s" at all (paragraph 21). Elisa is taken aback by her own submissiveness and quickly becomes preoccupied with her flowers as soon as her husband leaves.
However, the reader must always keep in mind the time at which this piece was written and how these relationships exemplify the realities of personal relationships during this time era. Her relationship with John is dominated by him and is almost like she is the child. Without anyone to speak to about her true feelings and stresses, she writes, another thing she must hide from John and Jennie. The reader feels a sense of fear from the narrator, “there comes John, and I must put this away,—he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman 78). Yet another sign of how he does not want his wife thinking for herself and doing what she pleases. When learning about the author and her background, her feminist side shows in this piece through examples like these. The true dark sides of marriage, the loneliness, and the female role of always being superior are portrayed perfectly in this short
Louise is said to "not hear the story as many women have heard the same." Rather, she accepts it and goes to her room to be alone. Now the reader starts to see the world through Louise's eyes, a world full of new and pure life.
She locks the door behind her and waits for several seconds starring in the darkness trying to hear any movements. Kelsey walks across the room with her pistol ready, finger on the trigger. Just as she gazes out the window watching flames arise on the horizon, spot light's beam the building causing the room to shine bright. Kelsey turns around and glimpses the Nazi Leader pointing a handgun at the pimple between her eyebrows. Kelsey lowers her pistol to the ground and holds her hands to the sky. The Nazi Leader speaks in some form of German which becomes inaudible for Kelsey to understand. Then a water droplet falls from Kelsey’s face and she begins to say a prayer. She speaks aloud to cause the leader to lose his focus on what he should be doing, killing her. Conversation comes up through the question of Kelsey asking the leader why he has started this movement once again. The leader replies “I chose to eliminate the weaker humans in our society. With those people gone, our community and world can develop to the next level.” Kelsey decides to yell at the leader while tears running down her face that the leader is wrong to think like that. She believes that everyone was put on this planet for a reason to contribute to society. And that the purpose of the jews might not be prevalent right now, but they will find their spot in society soon. As soon as the argument ceases and tension in the room intensifies, the family Kelsey saved in the woods barges through the door and open fires on the Nazi Leader. Multiple bullets slice through the leader’s body like tissue paper. His body collapses to the ground with a bang and silence strikes the room. Everyone looks around and checks themselves for unnoticeable bullet wounds that might not have stricken them. After all body parts are clean of bullet scratches, they all surround one another with tears of joy knowing
Upon seeing her husband alive and well Louise realizes that the life she has imagined is not to be. The return of Brently signals a return of the patriarchal oppression in her life, and after imagining herself as an individual and then to be denied the chance to live freely is a punishment far worse than the crime. Louise loses her identity and once again becomes "his wife." Richards once more tries to protect her, a helpless woman, by attempting to block her view from her husband, because of the fragile state of her heart. Mrs. Mallard's strengths are gone, never to be acknowledged by the men in her life. For one, brief hour she was an individual. Now she finds herself bound by masculine oppression with no end in sight, and the result is death.
Before reaching this moment, the reader can discern that Louise is struggling between the thoughts of how she “should” be reacting to the news of her husband’s death against the feeling of elation of being free from her perceived marital constraint. Louise is living in the late 19th century where society believed women belonged in a domestic realm where they “manned” the house (cooking, cleaning, raising the children) binding them to their home and husband. A time when a woman is to be the social moral compass and live by a strict social code of conduct. Even in the description of Louise it is clear she upholds these values: “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 306). It is also when the reader gets the first glimpse of Louise’s repressed life.
She is marginalize from society by her partner and she has to live in the shadows of him. She is unbelievably happy when she found out about the death of her husband. She expresses her feelings of freedom in her room where she realize she will live by herself. This illustrates that Louise has been living in an inner-deep life disconnected form the outside world where only on her room away from family and friends she discovers her feelings. It is important to mention that even though Louise has a sister, she does not feel the trust to communicate her sentiments towards her. We discover a marginalization from family members and more surprising from a women, Louise’s sister. The narrator strictly described Louise’s outside world but vividly reveals what is in her mind. At the same time she feels guilty of her emotional state by recognizing that she loved Brently mallard sometimes, her husband. Louise contradict herself but this demonstrates her emotional feelings about her husband disregarding her marriage. The situation of this woman represents the unhappiness and disgraceful life that women had to suffer from their